Coles County accounted for 52 of the 39,329 abortions performed statewide in 2017, according to an Illinois Department of Public Health report issued in December, which tracks abortions performed on an annual basis.

About 97 percent of ninth graders in 2018 were on track to graduate at a school where the four-year graduation rate was 100 percent that year, according to the latest Illinois schools report card by the Illinois State Board of Education.

About 80 percent of ninth graders in 2018 were on track to graduate at a school where the four-year graduation rate was 96 percent that year, according to the latest Illinois schools report card by the Illinois State Board of Education.

Oakland Community Unit School District 5, Kansas Community Unit School District 3 and Beecher City Community Unit School District 20 spend the most per student in East Central Illinois, according to the latest Illinois Schools Report Card.

State Rep.-elect Chris Miller of Oakland points to news that just over 19,000 state retirees received pension benefits totaling nearly $2.4 billion in fiscal year 2018 as yet another example of how taxpayers are victimized in Illinois.